Anti-Fracking Groups Greet Obama On New York Tour...

Source: Huffington Post

Anti-fracking activists confronted President Barack Obama as he toured upstate New York on Friday. Organizers reported that more than 500 protesters showed up to Obama's town hall event at Binghamton University, where the president was speaking on education.

"I think the key message we wanted to get across through the whole tour was that New Yorkers don't want this," said Alex Beauchamp, Northeast regional director at the environmental group Food and Water Watch, which coordinated the protests along with the coalition New Yorkers Against Fracking. "There's massive public opposition to fracking. "

New Yorkers Against Fracking took out a full-page ad in the Binghamton Press & Sun on Friday with the headline "President Obama: Stop covering up the science on fracking!" (Scroll down to see the ad.)

The ad argues that fracking -- the process used to extract natural gas from shale -- "canít be done safely," "poisons water and people," and "spells disaster for the climate." The ad specifically cites news reports that the EPA hid test results that showed methane and arsenic pollution in some drinking water wells in the area around Dimock, Penn., where fracking took place. The EPA presentation, which the environmental blog DeSmogBlog released earlier this month, stated that methane and other gases released in the fracking process "apparently cause significant damage to the water quality."...

3. In related news, Dallas may be turning a cold shoulder to fracking

The City Plan Commission just took public comments yesterday from a number of Dallas residents (including myself) who are in favor of the strongest possible restrictions on fracking within city limits, including a minimum 1,500-foot setback for pad sites. The final decision comes at next week's City Council meeting, but let's just say fracking advocates were outnumbered at yesterday's meeting.